Simple Slouch Knit-Along // Casting On

Who's excited to start casting on for their Simple Slouch hat today!?

This post is very picture-heavy, as I'll be sharing how to both make a slip knot, as well as perform the long-tail cast-on.I tried to get as much detail of each technique as possible, so if you're new to any of this, you should be able to follow along with ease! You should end up with stitches on your needle similar to the photo above, when you're done with these steps!




The long-tail cast on is called this because you start with a long tail of yarn, which gets used as you cast on the stitches you'll need for your project. I find that if I pull the end of yarn out the length of my arm twice, I'll have plenty of yarn for my cast on. There may be a fair bit left over, but you'll have enough yarn in your skein of acrylic yarn that that extra bit won't matter.

To start our long tail cast on, you make a slip knot.You'll wrap the end of your yarn around your finger, and pull the yarn that's attached to your ball of yarn through the hole you've made. It will look a bit like a pretzel while it's loose, and will pull tight very nicely. If you've done it right, you'll be able to use the end of the yarn to tighten and loosen the loop.

Once you've put your slip knot onto your circular needle, it should look like this. You'll hold your tail on your index finger, and the yarn that's attached to the ball of yarn over your thumb, and you're ready to cast on!

Step one: insert the needle tip in your left hand over and around the yarn on your thumb.

Step two: Next, you'll go over the top and around the back of the yarn on your index finger, and bring your needle up through the space in between your fingers.

Now comes the scary part ... you slip the yarn off your thumb, and pull the new stitch tight (but not TOO TIGHT!!!) on your needle, picking the yarn back up with your thumb as you bring it around.

This is what your needle will look like with your two stitches on the needles.

Now, repeat these cast on steps until you have the right number of stitches on your needles for the size you're making. I'm making a hat for Owen, so I'm casting on the child's sized hat, which has 72 stitches.

Once you've got all your stitches on your needle, you'll want to stretch them out so they fit from one tip to the other, as shown above. And to keep the stitches from twisting, which would give your whole hat a big twist to it and make it unwearable, I like to make sure all the bumpy bottoms of the stitches are facing the inside of the circle the needle makes. You will easily be able to see your stitches are straight by doing this, and it will help spread them evenly along the circular needle.

Below is a video from You Tube that shows the long tail cast on. The video is from Knit Picks, a brand I trust, and so I know the quality and directions are perfection.



Wednesday we'll begin with the knit stitch, so be sure to ask any questions you may have in the comments, and don't forget to hashtag your projects #simpleslouchKAL on Instagram!